A Stage Stained Red
by Deception's Call
Summary: "Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favor." Only one can win but the show goes on. And this time, they don't have the berries.


A pair of star-crossed lovers stare at each other from across the shining meadow, beside a glistening lake.

But this place isn't paradise.

The two observe each other, watching one another's every move with eyes like a hawk. What would become of them? They would not be home tonight, not together. They had been deceived, played with. And they were broken.

The boy approaches the girl with caution, reaching out to her, he wanted so badly to tell her that it would be okay, that they would live to see another day, but he knew that wasn't the case. By sunset, one of them would be gone.

He throws his weapon to the ground in front of her, and gives a soft smile, one which was filled with pain, a smile that said 'It's time for me to go.'

The girl refuses, unable to look at him in the eyes, she wants him to be with her forever, if she won, her life would be unbearable without him. She loved him. As he loved her. It wasn't an act, not for her anymore. It was never an act for him. The arena was a stage, in which they were the main characters in the audience's mind. But not all shows have happy endings.

He takes her free hand in his, and places his other hand to her face, caressing it with great care, his eyes had a great tenderness and sweetness to it, which she couldn't bear to live without. She needed him, more than anything in the world. She was fire, but fire burns out without the fuel that it needs. He's that fuel. Without him, she'd barely stay alight. Her inferno would slowly deteriorate into a spark, soon enough burning out.

The boy leans in and gives her a kiss which gave her a moment of warmth, it transported them both back home, a place where everything would be okay, a place of safety, it gave them one moment of pure bliss and a chance to feel safe. It gave them hope.

But you know what they say about hope - it breeds eternal misery.

The kiss is worth a thousand words, enough to last them a lifetime. It is a goodbye.

He moves back from the girl, and nudges his head in the way of her bow and arrow, she seems confused, did he want her to do it? The girl refused, lowering her bow, fear shone brightly in her eyes. She felt betrayed. He wanted to leave her. He didn't love her.

The boy looked at her with tears in his eyes, he didn't want to leave her, all he wanted was for her to live the life that she deserved. She deserved to be home with her sister, her family, she deserved happiness. So why did she prolong it?

But the girl would never be happy without him.

He came closer once again, and took the girl's hands to lock the bow and arrow in place - the target? His heart.

His eyes hold words that he cannot bring himself to say, 'Goodbye.'

The girl lowers her bow from its target, tears brimming in her stormy grey eyes, which were once filled with hope, now were clouded with devastation. But he knew, she was the one to go home, he was never meant to see the light of another day, fate had decided their destiny's for them on that tragic day.

She brings her left hand to her lips, kisses three fingers and holds it out to the boy. It means admiration, it means goodbye to someone you love. And she loves him greatly. Once again, she raises her bow, her body shaking with fear, and she gazes in his sapphire eyes one last time. He gives her a nod and a small grim smile, sealing his fate.

She pulls the string and releases the arrow which plunges into his heart. Blood seeps out of his lips as he falls to the once vibrant grass, now stained with her lover's blood.

Her pained cry rings across the vast arena, the voice of a lover broken. She thrashes in anger, she couldn't look at him, she couldn't face what she had done. When had she lost her way? When had she become a piece in their games?

And then a cannon fires in the open air.

He was gone. Dead. Free to roam the limbo of the heavens. He was in a better place, she was in hell.

How could he leave her? How could he think that she would be okay?

As her tears trickle down her face she leans over the boy once again, and embraces him not caring about the blood that would stain her clothes forever. She kisses him one last time, however, this time the kiss tastes of blood and desperation.

The remaining lover let his limp body fall back down to the grass. His deathbed.

The girl suddenly appears to go mad, screaming at the open air, as if someone was there, she pulls her hair and vigorously scratches her face, drawing blood.

She can't take it. Her fire was burning out. She had no more fight in her. She was just so tired. Of everything. Voices whisper in her ear saying, 'Murderer.'

The mockingjay's begin to imitate her as she sings to her lover, the Valley song. The song which she had sang eleven years ago, the day in which he fell in love with her.

Finally, the girl seems to calm down, but an insane look takes on her eyes, it seems as though she has lost herself.

She grabs the arrow that had killed her lover, and plunges it through her broken heart.

She falls onto the soft green grass, the boy and girl's blood mixing together. They were together once again. This was their destiny, to die at the hands of each other. To die broken, but in the wake of death, is when they would be set free.

He was waiting for her in a meadow.

And so the mockingjays sings the last thing uttered in the arena, it sings its last song, a song of death.

The arena is a stage stained with blood. A stage in which 24 fell, a stage in which held 24 being's graves, a stage in which held 24 tributes last breaths. It was a place which held 24 last memories and 24 last moments. Memories of destruction, devastation and desperation.

It is a stage, like its predecessors, painted in the blood of the fallen. It stands as a memorial to the families and friends, but nothing more than a set to the scriptwriters. But this show, has an audience who grieves a tribute's death, not out of spite that they weren't victorious, but out of sympathy and guilt, that this was what they called entertainment. This arena was a place which was the most unforgettable yet.

Unlike others, this stage was a place where a pair of star-crossed lovers, took their lives.


End file.
